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UC San Francisco Retirement Association Report

April 2024 Report

Submitted by Eric Vermillion, CUCRA rep

UCSF CUCRA initiated a monthly E-newsletter to all UCSF retirees that provided an email address and they are now alerted with a notice of events and activities that are scheduled by both Retiree and Emeriti Associations.  It has proven very effective in making sure people are getting the ‘word’ on events and happenings they may want to participate in.

The major news of the past year is that after a concerted and collaborative effort on the part of members of the UCSF Retirees and Emeriti Associations, a proposal was submitted to the UCSF Chancellor in September to establish a permanent UCSF Retirement Center that would be staffed appropriately to serve the many and varied needs of the over 9,000 current UCSF retirees.  Of course, the proposal has to undergo the usual budgetary review and organizational analysis, but with a current employee population approaching 30,000, it won't be too many years before the numbers of UCSF retirees doubles and even triples from its current size.  Many lessons were learned during the pandemic period and hopefully those will be applied to serve the expanding UCSF enterprise in this new Retirement Center

A number of events, including hikes, field trips, museum visits, were conducted including, but not limited to:

  • A Senior stroll through Marin County Parks starting with the Hamilton Wetlands;
  • Birdwatching trip to Tiburon with the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary, a “ground-zero” for wintering waterbirds and Pacific herring in SF Bay;
  • A Gold Rush City walking tour of San Francisco to learn about fires, gangs, vigilantes, kidnappings and characters like Emperor Norton, Mark Twain and Levi Strauss;
  • A Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Trolley walking tour;
  • A walking tour of the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus, the largest guide dog school in North America;
  • A tour of the famous San Francisco Palace Hotel with a lunch in the Garden Court;
  • Attendance at several of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera program summer presentations and concerts;
  • Attended a live performance presentation by US Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera titled “Handful of Gravel”.

 There were a number of organized social activities which included both the Holiday luncheon in December and the Spring luncheon in June at the Basque Cultural Center, both of which were well attended.  A Summer Picnic was also held for the first time at the SPARK Social SF in Mission Bay.  SPARK Social is a food truck park, beer and sangria garden with tons of unique food and events to take part in.

Beyond this, members of the Retirees Association board participated on the twice-yearly Pathway to Retirement weeklong series presented by UCSF and Fidelity to provide a forum for employees that are interested in retirement to get a full multi-day series of briefings on healthcare, retirement financial planning among a wide range of topics.  There was also the continued participation on the Lunch Speaker series conducted by the UCSF Emeriti members on a broad range of science and health issues, in addition to a standing UCSF Covid 19 Response Town Hall.

Also, several UCSF retirees became UC Travel Program “guides” and led a number of trips this past year including Ireland, Cuba, Iceland, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Japan and Sicily.   Many more trips are planned to complete 2023 and for 2024. 

The membership held it annual December holiday luncheon with about 80 in attendance for a festive end to the 2023 year. To start 2024, tours of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and the Golden Gate National recreation Area, as well as a tour of the Buck Institute on Aging in Marin county were held to start the 2024 year.

Finally, the membership push this past year saw some good results in Retiree Association paid members and we hope to build upon that and continue to grow once a new UCSF Retiree Center is established.  Having full-time support will help tremendously in that effort.  While the official membership year ends on October 31st and the numbers aren’t yet final, we were able to grow to 550 members by this past August and hopefully can go over 600 by the end.  A New Retirees Welcome event was held in September with 50 new UCSF retirees attending for an agenda that included a welcome from the current UCSF Associate Vice Chancellor/Sr. Vice President of HR, the Emeriti Association Vice President, representatives from Fidelity, the UCSF Health Care Facilitator, the President of the UCSF Retirees Association and representatives from the UCSF Institute on Aging, the Osher Ctr for Lifelong Learning, UCSF Fitness and Recreation Programs, the Speaker Series, and the UC Travel Program,  among others.

Download/View PDF version of the UCSF Report